Full Array Of Medical Marijuana Clinics Means Shorter Drives

ST. PAUL (AP) - Minnesota's medical marijuana program is almost running at full strength.

The state's two final dispensaries are set to open Friday in St. Paul and Hibbing. That rounds out the eight clinics scattered across Minnesota that are required by law to open in July.

The full contingent of clinics means shorter drives for patients and their parents like Angie Weaver. The Hibbing mother has made monthly trips to Eagan to pick up medicine to treat her daughter Amelia's seizure disorder.

Weaver says she's thrilled there will be a location a few miles away.

But the expansion also means greater costs for the two companies that grow and cultivate the marijuana medicine. That could be offset in August when patients suffering intractable pain are allowed to begin buying marijuana oils and vapors.